Poverty link to gene damage that cuts cancer survival rate

SCIENTISTS in Scotland have established a link between poverty and a rogue gene, potentially explaining why women from poor backgrounds are less likely to survive breast cancer.

The team, from Dundee University, found for the first time that the p53 gene mutation in breast cancer is associated with socio-economic deprivation and that this helps account for the poorer prognosis for women from deprived communities.

Deprivation has long been known to play a role in the development of a wide range of diseases, but the reasons for survival rates differing between breast cancer sufferers from poor and affluent areas – the deprivation gap – has never been fully understood.

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found women in the lowest socio-economic groups were "significantly more likely" to have a relapse and die from breast cancer than those in more affluent categories.

It is thought that lifestyle factors associated with poverty, including smoking, drinking and an unhealthy diet, could increase the likelihood of the p53 mutation – a change that reduces the body's ability to suppress tumours.

The survey, funded by Breast Cancer Research Scotland and the Tayside Tissue Bank, looked at 246 women who underwent treatment for breast cancer between 1997 and 2001.

Patients' postcodes were used to calculate a "deprivation score" for each and compared whether they made a full recovery from the disease, suffered a relapse or died.

Results suggested the p53 mutation was associated with the worst survival rate and shorter disease-free interval in breast cancer.

Women from deprived backgrounds were more likely to experience a mutation of p53, and this was linked to higher relapse and mortality rates, the study found.

Dr Lee Baker, of the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology at the University of Dundee, said smoking, drinking and poor diet were more common in women from lower socio-economic groups, who are also more likely to experience a recurrence and to die from breast cancer.

"This research makes a strong link between p53 and deprivation, and then between p53 mutation and recurrence and death," Dr Baker said.

Emma Pennery, clinical director at Breast Cancer Care, said: "This research is among the first to explore the relationship between deprivation and the biological behaviour of breast cancer, and might help to explain how the p53 gene becomes damaged. We would welcome wider scale studies to further our understanding of this concept."